Agenda item

To consider the achievements made to date in respect of the outcomes identified in the Housing Renewal and Homelessness Strategy 2012-16; to endorse the Housing Strategy 2017-21 and first year action plan and to refer it to Council for adoption; and to endorse the arrangements in respect of future action plans arising from the strategy and monitoring.

68.1           Attention was drawn to the report of the Housing Strategy Review Working Group, circulated at Pages No. 23-213.  Members were asked to consider the achievements to date in respect of the outcomes identified in the Housing, Renewal and Homelessness Strategy 2012-16 Action Plan; to endorse the Housing Strategy 2017-21 and the first year action plan and recommend to Council that it be adopted with effect from 1 January 2017; and to endorse the arrangements in respect of future action plans arising from the strategy and monitoring as set out at Paragraph 4 of the report.  Members noted that there was an error in the final recommendation which should refer to Paragraph 5 of the report.

68.2           The Chair of the Housing Strategy Review Working Group, and Lead Member for Built Environment, indicated that he was happy to present the 2015/16 achievements of the Housing, Renewal and Homelessness Strategy 2012-16 and to draw that strategy to a close whilst presenting the Committee with a new five year Housing Strategy for 2017-21.  He explained that the Housing Advice team continued to provide advice and assistance via a drop-in service at the Public Services Centre to over 1,000 customers annually; in 2015/16 1,360 households had received support.  It was noted that the number of residents seeking advice had doubled since 2010.  The number of residents approaching the Council with serious housing difficulty, who were in need of in-depth assistance, had risen by 24% during the lifetime of the previous strategy to 229 households in the last financial year, which was in line with national homeless trends.  A renewed emphasis on homeless prevention during the lifetime of the strategy had resulted in a slight reduction in homeless applications.  On average, 120 households approached the Council as homeless each year, of which about half were accepted as homeless; although the figures did vary year on year.  The last financial year had seen a slight drop in the number of homelessness approaches but the figure year on year was relatively stable.  Of those approaches, the numbers accepted had slightly reduced but, similarly, remained stable.  Homelessness prevention figures had seen a significant increase in the last financial year to 172; on average the preventions had been at around 105 per year.  In the current financial year (April to December 2016), the number of preventions stood at 87 households.  Members were advised that the Housing Advice team focused on preventative services rather than dealing with customers in crisis having already reached a state of homelessness.  Officers sought to assist customers early and positively through landlord negotiations, family mediation or supporting them to find alternative accommodation, including access to private rented housing where appropriate.  The Anti-Social Behaviour Youth Diversion Worker had an essential role in homelessness prevention and worked with housing services, housing providers/landlords and the Police in order to prevent evictions where the household was likely to become homeless due to anti-social behaviour.  The countywide Sanctuary Scheme for households experiencing domestic violence had been remarkably successful.  Since the inception of the scheme in 2014, 31 households had been able to remain in their homes to date through target hardening measures such as lock changes, security lighting and panic alarms.  In addition, temporary housing had been sourced for households fleeing domestic violence in the Borough through a joint project with other local authorities in Gloucestershire.

68.3           Members were advised that the Council had five properties within the Borough which were let on licence agreements to provide emergency accommodation.  These had been invaluable in enabling most of the families needing emergency accommodation to remain within the borough, however, there continued to be a heavy reliance on bed and breakfast in other areas for single households and couples.  Much work continued to secure further temporary accommodation in the borough for those groups working with social housing providers.  During the lifetime of the Housing Strategy 2012-16, 668 additional affordable homes had been built across the Borough.  It was currently estimated that a further 197 affordable homes would be built in the current financial year, which continued to exceed the Council Plan target of 150 affordable homes per annum.  In 2015/16, 139 new homes were built for rent and available through housing associations.  In the same period there were a total of 409 lets across the borough in housing association properties meaning that 34% of lets came from new-build affordable rented homes.  Affordability of housing was impacting on many residents, for example, large families on benefits affected by the benefit cap would be unable to afford to rent a home in the borough, even at social rented levels, unless they could secure employment or increase the number of hours they currently worked.  Single people under 35 and young people aged 18-21 who were on benefits would also find all rented accommodation unaffordable unless they secured employment.  Officers were working with the Revenues and Benefits team, housing providers, job centres and the Citizens’ Advice Bureau to prevent residents from losing their homes and to secure more ‘skills for life’ training.  The Environmental Health team continued to respond accordingly to requests for support from private rented tenants and private landlords regarding housing conditions, including the ‘Safe at Home’ and ‘Warm and Well’ schemes.  On average, eight Category 1 hazards were removed per year as a result of interventions from Officers.

68.4           The Housing Strategy 2017-21, attached at Appendix 2 to the report, included a statutory requirement for a Homelessness Strategy and a Tenancy Strategy which could be found at Appendices 2 and 3 of the Strategy respectively.  The five year strategy played a key part in delivering the Council Plan which identified housing as a priority.  The strategy had been brought together by Officers and an Overview and Scrutiny Committee Working Group where Members had been presented with the housing and homelessness evidence needed to inform them of the whole picture of needs and challenges for the borough.  The Working Group had agreed priorities and objectives for public and stakeholder consultation which had run for a six week period.  The consultation had identified many areas of concern and gaps in the original evidence base which had been addressed in the document before the Committee.  The strategy was an overarching document which took into account the principal national and local issues that were likely to affect Tewkesbury Borough in the foreseeable future.  It set out the housing challenges and explained how it was intended to address the issues through four key priorities: increasing housing supply; homelessness and homelessness prevention; meeting the needs of specific groups; and improving the health and wellbeing of local people.  The key objectives were detailed within each of the priority areas and were set out at Page No. 80 of the report.  Targets and outcomes for delivering the objectives would be included in an annual action plan.  An action plan for the first year had been agreed by the Working Group and was set out at Page No. 82 of the report.  It was proposed that this be updated annually to allow the Council to be proactive, as well as reactive, to the changing needs of the community and to respond when new government policies were implemented.  The action plan would be as flexible as possible so that new actions could be started as and when appropriate over the five year period.  Action Plans would be taken to the Executive Committee for approval with bi-annual monitoring reports taken to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for consideration.

68.5           Several Members of the Housing Strategy Review Working Group took the opportunity to congratulate Officers for the amount of work that had gone into the review, particularly given the short timescale for completion, the complexities associated with housing and the amount of work required to be undertaken by such a small team.  With reference to that, a Member sought assurance that the first year action plan was realistic and the Housing Services Manager confirmed that Officers were confident they could be achieved, particularly considering the amount of work that had been done over the last couple of years and the focus of the team.  The Chief Executive agreed that the targets were challenging but pointed out that the actions would be delivered in connection with a range of partners.  The Lead Member for Health and Wellbeing praised the Housing Services team for its achievements in recent years, particularly given the stressful and often undesirable circumstances in which Officers had to work, and indicated that he had every confidence that they would succeed in delivering the action plan.

68.6           A Member drew attention to Page No. 35 of the report and questioned how many empty homes had been brought back into use.  The Strategic Housing and Enabling Officer advised that the figures in relation to long-term empty properties were set out at Page No. 163 of the report and covered the period 2011/12 to 2016/17.  With regard to the previous strategy, a Member noted that one of the measures to achieve the objective ‘to provide social housing for those most in need’ was to ‘continue to implement the Gloucestershire Homeseeker allocations procedure’ with the outcome of ‘ensuring all households in emergency bands are house appropriately within a reasonable timescale’ and she sought clarification as to what was meant by a ‘reasonable timescale’.  The Housing Services Manager explained that emergency banding was a misleading term as it included anyone downsizing within that band, which was an emergency for Officers as opposed to the customer; however, it also included people who were in a true emergency situation and required accommodation immediately e.g. where a property was subject to a Prohibition Order (where there was a serious threat to health and safety of occupants) or a person returning from hospital required specialist accommodation.  Officers generally resolved these issues within two months.  With regard to Page No. 84 of the report, a Member sought further explanation as to what was meant by ‘stop the use of private bed and breakfast for emergency accommodation except in emergencies’ as stated in relation to Priority 2, Action 8.   In response, the Housing Services Manager advised that, whilst a certain amount of homelessness cases could be anticipated, there would always be unforeseen incidents, for instance, people being made homeless as a result of flooding, which may require emergency accommodation, such as bed and breakfasts, and the action intended to ensure that type of accommodation was only used for such purposes.  A Member went on to draw attention to Page No. 127 and he questioned what was meant by ‘bashes’ in the Department of Communities and Local Government definition of rough sleeping set out at Paragraph 4.1.  The Strategic Housing and Enabling Officer explained that bashes were temporary structures made by rough sleepers to protect themselves against the elements and she undertook to insert an explanatory note to this effect.

68.7           The Deputy Chief Executive felt that the Housing Strategy was successfully summarised in the diagram at Page No. 63 of the report; it fitted with a number of other key strategic documents both at a borough and countywide level and he felt that there was interaction between the various different elements.  He reiterated the importance of flexibility given the uncertainty in terms of future legislation and he felt that this had been achieved within the draft strategy for 2017-21.  Having considered the information provided, and views expressed, it was

RESOLVED          1.   That the achievements made to date in respect of the outcomes identified in the Housing, Renewal and Homelessness Strategy 2012-16 Action Plan, as set out at Appendix 1 of the report, be NOTED.

2.   That the Housing Strategy 2017-21 and first year action plan be endorsed, as set out at Appendix 2 of the report, and that it be RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that it be ADOPTED with effect from 1 January 2017.

3.   That the arrangements in respect of future action plans arising from the strategy and monitoring be ENDORSED, as set out at Paragraph 5 of the report.